Random Thoughts From My Childhood:Street Repairs and Buried Cars

When I was a kid, I thought that in those patches of dark asphalt for street repairs was where they buried old cars.

"Why Don't People Steal Toilet Paper from Public Restrooms?"

I saw a question in a blogger's profile that intrigued me. I came across this person's blog while I was reading this article at yet another blog. The article was about the writer's 10 favorite law student blogs. As of now seven out of ten of those bloggers have either shut down, stopped posting or "privatized" their blogs. Only three of them still post regularly. I'd give a direct link to her website but the person would think I'm a loony stalker-type.

Here is the question: "Why don't people steal toilet paper from public bathrooms?" I have several theories. 

First and foremost, no one wants to put something in their bag, backpack or whatever that has been touched by someone else's shitty hands. It's bad enough having to touch shit-contaminated objects but we comfort ourselves and rationalize touching the public restroom toilet paper at all by noting that we will be touching the toilet paper with our own shitty hands. It's as if the shittiness cancels each other out. Also, no one wants to walk around with a shit-ass. We have to use the toilet paper but we don't want to bring home the shittiness.

Second, taking a roll of toilet paper is physically difficult. Those suckers are really locked-in there. I know this not because I've tried to steal toilet paper. I know because I've tried to turn the roll around so that the toiler paper will roll out from the top. It drives me nuts when it comes out from the bottom. When I've seen that in a public bathroom, I've tried to change the direction by first taking the toilet paper out and rotating it 180 degrees. Believe me, those things are secured in there. You almost have to rip the damn roll out to get it out.

Third, who the hell wants toilet paper from a public restroom? It's like sandpaper. It doesn't absorb well. It just plain sucks.

A Movie About a Mid-life Crisis Gave Me a Mid-life Crisis

A movie about a man's midlife crisis has sent me into a midlife crisis. I'm talking about the movie, 10. I watched about the first thirty minutes of it the other day (I've seen it many times before). The movie centers on Dudley Moore's midlife crisis.

I doubt many of my classmates have ever heard of the movie "10." The odds any of them ever hearing of Bo Derek are long. The odds of them who have ever lusted after Bo Derek are even more remote. I still think Bo Derek is pretty damn good looking. The odds that any of my classmates would find her attractive today are astronomical.

When I was growing up, guys in my age-group had posters of one of these women: Farrah Fawcett or Bo Derek. I had a Farrah Fawcett post but I really liked Bo Derek better.

I thought Dudley Moore's character was 50 in 10. He was fretting about his dotage. He was not 50 but 42. I'm now 44.

Bob Costas Interviewing While Standing

Among the many reasons Bob Costas may enjoy hosting the Kentucky Derby, Costas may especially enjoy interviewing the jockeys because he can stand while doing so. It seems like he does almost all of his interviews seated, maybe because it draws attention away from his height. He must feel like a center for the Knicks when he's interviewing a jockey.

Mad Men Being on the "Right Side" of History

I love how guilty white liberals who write Mad Men have continually been trying to portray the cast as being on the right side of history. Look at the way they have treated issues such as race, sex and smoking. You can almost hear the writers thoughts about how they wouldn't have done what the "silent majority" had done or not done in the early and middle part of the twentieth century.

This bothers me for a few reasons. First, it's as if they are trying to rewrite history. They are trying to exculpate themselves from the ugly warts and moles in our history by saying "Not me. I would have been a champion for the liberal cause du jour."

It also bothers me because they are overlooking, ignoring or even justifying the cast's otherwise boorish, back-biting and socially unacceptable behavior by attributing redeeming features to them from the writer's value system. It doesn't matter if Don is a dick to his friends, coworkers and wife. The man can be a liar, two-timer and a poor husband and father, but all is forgiven if Don champions the causes of the liberal cause du jour.

Hell, almost the whole damn case has personality problems and social hang-ups. Yet they are not vilified but instead glorified. It's amazing how the Mad Men writers go out of their way to make anyone right-of-center look ugly and boorish.

The show is at year 1966. Vietnam has begun to pop up. I think we'll be getting our belly-full later this season or possibly the next about Vietnam.

I'm starting to think Mad Men has jumped the shark. The show has become a convenient vehicle for the writers to project their views about current events onto the a show based in the 60's.

Random Thought:The Last TV Show In Black and White?

Earlier today, I was thinking of what and when was the last TV series on a major network to air in black and white. (And I'm not talking about dream sequences or flashbacks.)

My Six Hour Exam Lasted Just Over Five Hours

I took my last exam for my second year yesterday. The exam was scheduled for 6 hours. I knew that going in. What I didn't know was what the word limit was going to be other than the fact that we would have a word limit.

3000 words sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. I got there around the 5 hour mark. I spent 10 minutes reviewing the exam and printing it out.

It's all over but the crying now.